John Dierking

John Harry Dierking was born on March 2, 1949, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Eva Fleisher and John Robert Dierking. He passed away peacefully on September 26, 2020, in the presence of his wife and two daughters. John was one of six children and is survived by his oldest brother (Robert) and youngest sister (Beverly). He is predeceased by his brother Herb, sister Nancy, and brother Ray. He leaves behind his wife of nearly 50 years Gloria; daughters Julie Dierking Lowry and Jessica Lynn Dierking; granddaughters Samantha Jean Lowry and Eva Jean Dierking; and nephew Herb and niece Stephanie.

John’s father was a career Navy and his family moved frequently. By early elementary school, his family had settled in Orange, California, where John graduated from Orange High School. At 18, he enlisted in the Navy and was assigned to the USS Hornet, an aircraft carrier headed on a WESTPAC cruise to Vietnam. During the cruise, he was given the opportunity to become a corpsman and was assigned to the fleet marine corps. He then spent a year with the marines in Vietnam learning as he went. When he came home, the navy sent him to corps school because, although he’d been performing the duties of corpsman, he’d never actually attended the school. (He had a habit of doing things backward.) After that, he was sent to Guam where he served out the rest of his tour of duty.

John was 14 when he met his future wife, Gloria, through his friendship with her brother, Robert Thurber. Through letters and phone calls (very expensive calls), John and Gloria became close friends and kept their relationship growing. At Christmas of 1970, John came home on leave and Gloria came home from college. While visiting each other on a Friday, they decided to get married and were married the following Wednesday in a chapel at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

A year later, John returned home from Guam, was released from active duty, and went back to school. He joined the reserves and was attached to a marine corps unit. His one drill weekend a month and two weeks in the summer served as a part-time job while attending school and allowed him time to go out and “play”. Looking back from his retirement, he always said that his time spent with 3^rd ANGLICO was some of the best times. In 1987, he left the navy and switched to the army because they would give him a commission as an officer which was a good career move, but he always missed the 3^rd ANGLICO. He retired at 20 years as a captain in the army reserves.

Eventually, John decided on a career path: he became a nurse, first an LVN, then an RN. During his nursing career, he worked in pediatrics, ICU, ophthalmology, psychiatry, and eventually ended his career working with dementia and senility in the elderly.

John loved talking to people. He was genuinely interested in hearing their stories and sharing them. No one was a stranger to John. He was an avid reader. He was a member of Mensa (something that he never took seriously saying that he qualified because of a clerical error). He had a great store of trivia in his brain. He loved his wife, daughters, and granddaughters with his whole being. He is sorely missed.

Services will be held at 1:00 pm on Saturday, October 10, 2020, at the First Presbyterian Church with Reverand Karl Heimbuck officiating.

Online condolences may be written at www.kanefuneral.com. Kane Funeral Home has been entrusted with local arrangements.